Reinforced tray



c. E. CLAFF ET AL 2;646,914

REINFORCED TRAY July 28, 1953 Filed June 6, 1947 ri 7 2a 2a 29 27 lgglllllllll; IIIIIIII I 'v'i'I/IIIIIIIIIIIIIL m 'i7llllllllllllllll Patented July 28, 1953 REINFORCED TRAY Chester E. Clafl? and Carl A. Moeller, Randolph, Mass, assignors to Norfolk Paper Company, Inc., Randolph, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application June 6, 1947, Serial No. 752,980

2 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to the manufacture of boxes or cartonsfrom pasteboard or the like, and more particularly to the construction of the box and the blank from which it is formed, and to the machine for producing the blank.

Some types of boxes or cartons, such, for example, as boxes in which shoes are customarily packed and stored on the shelves of the retail dealer, are subjected in use to excessive strain at the corners, due to the common practice of shoe salesmen of drawing the box outwardly from the store shelf, and often from beneath other boxes stacked above, by inserting one or more fingers downwardly within the box or upwardly within the cover, and pulling against the front wall of the box or cover. This puts a heavy strain on the front top corners of the box or the bottom front corners of the cover, with the result that the boxes and covers are frequently torn at one or both front corners.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a box or cover which is reinforced at such corners to withstand strains to which these parts are subjected in use.

' A further object of the invention is to provide a reinforced blank from which such boxes may be made.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a machine for producing reinforced blanks.

Withthese objects in view, the present inven' tion comprises a box or cover having a reinforcing thread or cord secured to the free edges of the sides and ends of the box or cover adjacent the corners.

The invention further consists in a blank of cardboard or other suitable material having a thread or cord secured to and extending along the sides of the blank adjacent to where the corner will be formed in the finished box or cover.

The invention further consists in a machine for applying and securing a reinforcing thread or cord to the edges of the web of box material and thereafter forming the individual box blank from the combined web and reinforcing cord.

Preferably the opposite edges of the web of box material are cut or split inwardly a short distance to form a cleft or seat to receive the cord to which adhesive has been applied, and a cover paper is adhesively secured to the opposite marginal surfaces of the web, passing tightly around the cord seated in the cleft. If desired, however, the splitting of the edge of the web may be omitted and the adhesively coated cord applied directly to the unsplit edge with cover paper passing around the cord and secured to the opposite margins of the web.

In the. accompanying drawings, which illustrate more or less diagrammatically the present invention, Fig. 1 is a top plan view and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine for slitting the edges of the web of box blank material and laying the reinforcing cord in the slit thus formed, andapplying the web of cover paper to one face of the cardboard web, and for folding the same over and around the cord and onto the opposite face of the cardboard to provide a composite web of cardboard, re-inforcing cord and cover paper preparatory to the forming of individual blanks therefrom; Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse, section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, showing a portion of a slitting knife for slitting the edge of the pasteboard web as it advances between the top and bottom plates or supports; Fig. 4 is a vertical, transverse, sectional view taken on line l4 of Fig. 2, showing a portion of the cord-guiding roll laying the cord in the cleft in the margin of the pasteboard web; Fig. 5 is a vertical transverse, sectional View on line 5-5 of Fig. 2, showing a side margin of the pasteboard web with the cord positioned in the cleft and the cover paper applied to the lower face of the cardboard web and extending marginally therefrom, preparatory to being folded around the edge of the pasteboard and cord and onto the top face of thecardboard; Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the cardboard web, reinforcing string and cover paper in final assembled position; Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a modification of the invention in which the adhesively coated cord is applied directly to the edge of the unsplit pasteboard web, and Fig. 8 shows in section the cover paper on the lower face of such web and wrapped around the cord and secured to the top marginal face; Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the finished blank suitable for a box cover, and Fig. 1D is a similar view of a cover formed from the blank of Fig. 9; Fig. 11 is a perspective view, partly in section and on an enlarged scale, of a corner of the box cover with the side and bottom cut away to show the internal construction.

in the machine of Figs. 1 and 2, the web of cardboard I5 is supplied from a roll H, from which it is drawn by the power driven feed rolls i9. From the feed rolls the web passes through the edge guides 2!, which guide and align the web preparatory to the edge slitting operation which is performed by the circular slitting knives 23 on the vertical rotating shafts 25.

aeaaem In order to present the web properly to the edge slitting knives, stationary guides are provided in the form of a lower support 26 and a top plate 21 between which the web passes. The inner adjacent faces 28 of these guides are beveled at their outer edges as shown in Fig. 3, to accommodate the beveled edges 29 of the slitting knives, and permit the latter to spread open the slit to provide a groove or seat for the cord.

The cords 30 are fed from supply cops ,or rolls 3| past the adhesive applying rolls 33, where they are coated with glue or other suitable ad esive supplied from the tanks 35 and transfer rolls 31. The cOrd-applyingrOl ls-BBhave grooved peripheries 39 to receive the cords from the rolls 33, and guide and press the cords into the clef-ts or slits ii in the edges of the web IS, the latter at such time passing between the top guide 53 and bottom support 45.

The Web It: with glue coated cord at embedded .in the slits on each edge thereof next passes to the rolls M where the cover paper 49 from the roll El is applied to the bottom face of the cardboard web 15. The cover paper on its way from the supply passes over the supporting roll 55 and its top face is coated by the pasting roll 5'! with paste received from the transfer roll 59 and paste reservoir Bl. The web M! of cover paper is wider than the web lb of pasteboard, so that when the cover paper is applied to the bottom face of the web or pasteboard, there is a projecting margin 63 of cover paper on each side of the pasteboard web, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5.

The combined pasteboard and cover paper webs then pass to the plows 65, shaped to turn over the projecting margins 63 of the cover paper around the edges of the cardboard and reinforcing cord and onto the top marginal surface of the cardboard, as shown in Fig. 6.

From the plows the composite web passes between the pressure and feed rolls 6'! which press the parts forcibly together, at the same time advancing the web to the conventional creasing, slitting, and severing mechanisms for producing blanks of conventional form such as shown in Fig. 9.

This blank comprises the main or body portion 69, side Wings 7!, and end wings i3 with the end wing extensions [5. Longitudinal creases or fold lines ii are positioned between the side wings H and the body 59, and transverse fold lines '59 separate the end wings '53 from the body .69 and extend onto the side wings to separate the side wing extensions or corner tabs 8| from the side wings. Supplementary transverse creases 83'1ie between the end Wings '53 and extensions '15.

The re-inforcing cord 30 is shown in dotted outline at the outer edges of the side wings H, with the cover paper 63 wrapped around the edges of the cord, and extending inwardly on the face of the side wings. Slots or notches B5 are provided at the ends of the blank, which separate the corner tabs 8! from the end Wings 73 and extensions 15.

The blank shown in Fig. 9 is a box cover blank from which the box cover shown in Fig. will be formed or set up, with the side Wings H turned up to form the sides and with the corner tabs BI turned inwardly to form a portion of the end construction. The end wings I3 are turned up and secured by glue or adhesive to the inturned corner tabs 8!, and the end wing extensions are turned inwardly and downwardly and secured by adhesive to the inner faces of the corner tabs and the end wings.

As shown in enlarged detail in Fig. 11, the reinforcing cord 30 lies along the top edges of the side wings and corner tabs being firmly secured in the cleft or slit by adhesive and the cover paper 63.

When the box is drawn forward by the shoe salesman by his fingers inserted behind the front end of the cover, the strain on the corners of the cover will be taken largely by the reinforcing cord, and tearing or breaking of the cover and box board at such times will be prevented.

For the production of the modified blank shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the rotating slitting knives 23 are omitted .or rendered inoperative and the reinforcing cords, after being treated with adhesive, are laid against the unsplit outer edges of the web of box board at or close to the point where the cover paper is applied to the box board web. The adjacent margins of the cover paper will then be wrapped around the cords in the manner heretofore described, and applied to the top margins of the box board web.

The composite web of box board, re-inforcing cord, and cover paper are then subjected to the usual'operations to form the individual fiat blank such as shown in Fig. 9, which may subsequently be set up into the box cover illustrated in Fig. 10

in the mannerabove described in connection with.

the blank having slitted edges.

The operation of the machine and the manner of use of the blanks having already been fully set forth, such description will not be here repeated.

While the present invention has been shown and described herein in what is now considered to be its preferred form, the invention is not limited thereto, but may be embodied in other forms and arrangements within the scope of the language of the appended claims.

Where in the foregoing description reference is made to a box or boxes, this is to be understood as including box covers.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A box comprising a bottom, sides having inturned end extensions, and ends adhesively secured to said extensions, all integrally formed from a single layer of cardboard or the like, the top edges of the sides and extensions being provided throughout their length with a downwardly extending cleft, a re-inforcing cord throughout its length partly embedded within and partly exposed outside the cleft and adhesivelv secured therein, and a thin cover paper extending over the outer surfaces of the sides and extensions around the cord, and onto the inner surfaces of the sides and extensions and adhesively secured directly to such outer and inner surfaces adjacent the cord and also adhesively secured to the exposed part of the cord.

2. A flat box blank comprising a body portion, side wings and ends extending therefrom, and extensions projecting from the ends of the side wings, all integrally formed from a single layer of cardboard or the like with a fold line between each Wing and its extensions, the outer longitudinal edges of the side wings and extensions being provided throughout their length with an inwardly extending cleft, a reinforcing cord throughout its length partly embedded within and partly exposed outside each cleft and adhesively secured therein, and a thin cover paper extending over the outer surfaces of the sides and extensions around the cord, and onto the inner surfaces of the sides and extensions and adhesively secured directly to such outer and inner 5 surfaces adjacent the cord, and also adhesively secured to the exposed part of the cord.

CHESTER E. CLAFF. CARL A. MUELLER.

Name Date Wyman Dec. 10, 1907 Number Number 6 Name Date Wyman 0011.13, 1908 Jagenbur Apr. 20, 1920 Smith J an. 3, 1922 Tinsley Apr. 24, 1928 Smith June 10, 1930 Allen Dec. 26, 1939 

